Kitchen Stock | November 2025

Cowboy approved recipes used by our favorite country cooks.

In the kitchen with Kim Marlatt, TK Angus of Wood Lake, Neb.

Tell us about yourself.

"Tim and I were married in 1984 and that is when TK Angus started. We spent many a weekend before we were married designing our brand and choosing a name for what we hoped would be a long-term project. We chose the TK brand for Tim and Kim, and the TK Angus name has stuck. Our cow herd originated from 4-H and FFA heifers that Tim showed in the 1970s, including five grand or reserve grand champions at the Nebraska State Fair. Early on we both had off-the-ranch jobs. Tim taught ag and FFA initially, and then transitioned into ag accounting and crop insurance sales at the local co-op. I was a physical therapist at the local hospital and nursing home.

We held our first production sale in 1989. Our herd gradually grew to the point that it needed full-time attention, so in 1991 when the opportunity arose to return to my family’s farming operation in Gordon, Neb., we loaded up the cows and made the move. Our cow numbers eventually outgrew the location in Gordon, so we started the search for a new location.

Tim grew up on a ranch south of Wood Lake, Neb., and we eventually found a ranch between Valentine and Wood Lake and returned to Tim’s roots in Cherry County. We made the move to our current location in 2013. Our son, Rick, was in pharmacy school and our daughter, Sara, had just graduated from high school when we made the move. Rick completed pharmacy school and he and his wife, Jenn, returned to work in Valentine. Rick eventually retired from his pharmacy position at the hospital and joined us at the ranch, so we are excited to have the next generation in place. I retired from my physical therapy career after 34 years to be extra help on the ranch and the babysitter for our two grandchildren, Gavin and Charlotte – the third generation of TK Angus.

We were very excited last year when Sara finished her family medicine residency and she and her husband, Jud, made the decision to move to Valentine as well. They are great help during our annual production sale, as well as for big projects like branding. We are blessed to have our whole family here and involved!

Our operation has grown and evolved over the past 44 years, but our mission has remained the same. We follow a strict adherence to our breeding philosophy based on functionality. For our commercial bull customers to be successful, they need cattle that have structural soundness, good feet, body and mass, and fertility. Mating decisions are made with a focus on our replacement females, as we live longer with those females than their bull mates. Our priority is to produce females that breed up in a 45-day breeding program, and that possess ideal udder quality and teat size. The bulls utilized in our breeding program have either been raised in our own herd or are bulls that we own. We spend a lot of time and travel looking for bulls that check all of the boxes in our breeding philosophy and include them in our herd bull battery. The results of this long-term breeding program are cattle with consistent phenotypes, and the longevity to remain in the herd and keep our operation sustainable."

What is your favorite cooking tip or trick?

"Grandma taught me that you should always have something in the pantry that you can use to either create a quick meal or add to a meal if you have unexpected company. And since I am not a fancy “from scratch” cook and because I spent many years juggling a career, school activities, volunteer activities, and helping on the ranch, I have learned that you can use pre-made items to make something “homemade” and still have a table full of satisfied men at the end of a meal."

What is your most requested dish or what is your favorite thing to make?

"During the winter, my family loves soup and the one they request most often is Cheeseburger Soup. It pairs well with cornbread muffins (Famous Dave’s from a box) or freshly baked Rhodes frozen rolls (if I have the time to get them thawed and raised). The branding crew usually requests Meatball Sub Casserole. And if I have to bring a dessert to a family meal, chocolate cream pie is most generally at the top of the list."

What is your least favorite job in the kitchen?

"I would have to say that my least favorite kitchen jobs are putting groceries away (I would much rather get started with a cooking project) and doing dishes/cleaning up (Mother always said I am a messy cook like my grandma)."

Where did you learn to cook?

"My first recollection of cooking was with my grandma on the farm in Gordon. She immigrated from Denmark as a little girl and could make anything from scratch. It wasn’t always fancy, but it was always delicious, and there was always plenty as she was usually cooking for hired men in addition to her kids and grandkids. My mother was also an excellent cook and entertainer, and she taught me (or at least tried to teach me) to be organized and prepared when cooking, especially for a group. My grandma passed away just before I started high school, and my mother and my aunt were both working at the bank, so cooking for the guys at the farm during the summer became my job when I wasn’t helping in the field. I had plenty of flops that I still get teased about once in a while at a family gathering, but most generally everyone was full and satisfied when they took off for their afternoon work."

Click here for printable recipes by Kim Marlatt

Upcoming Sale:

Monday, December 15, 2025

At the ranch, east of Valentine, Neb.

Photos courtesy Kim Marlatt